


Mermaid

by lemon_and_chai



Category: Prince of Tennis (TV), Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic, M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:42:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2700017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemon_and_chai/pseuds/lemon_and_chai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An empty home.</p>
<p>A splash from the koi pond.</p>
<p>A dark shadow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mermaid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neumegami](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neumegami/gifts).



Sighing, Tezuka stepped in his backyard, relieved when the cold air hit him. His work as a police man meant a lot to him, but some days, it felt so empty. As empty as his home, that he had inherited from his grandparents. At least they’d left him with a beautiful Japanese garden.

He heard a splash from the koi pond, and went to see if the fish were alright. Darkness covered the stone path, but he could make out shapes in the dim light from the house. 

He heard another splash, which was strange since the koi never made noise. He sped up, wondering if a raccoon had come to eat the fish. 

But when he reached the pond, nothing was there. It was dark, and he was far enough from the house that he could see the stars. He was about to turn around, when he noticed the bubbles.

They were rising from the center of the pond, where a dark shadow was rapidly growing. And then the water began to rise, and a shape burst from the surface - a person, he realized, who gasped for breath and shook water off his hair. 

His mind went blank with shock. This was impossible! The pond was only a few feet deep. Yet here was a person, with dripping wet hair, taking a deep breath after emerging from the center of the pond. And only bare shoulders showed above the waterline, leaving the being’s entire body submerged. 

“Hello,” the person spoke, after wiping his bangs out of his eyes. He looked up at Tezuka and smiled softly.

“He… oh my god,” Tezuka’s brain finally started working, and he rushed to the pond. He reached down and grabbed the young man’s arms, which stretched out to meet his, and pulled him from the pond. He didn’t know how it was possible, but the water was freezing, and Tezuka was terrified that some sort of deep pit had opened up in his backyard. If so, he didn’t think it would be safe for anyone to swim in it.

He pulled with all his strength, and was surprised at how heavy the boy was, for his narrow shoulders and slender arms made him seem small. But it wasn’t until he heard the splashing, and saw the cause of it, that he was faced with the real shock of his life.

Below the slender arms and torso of this stranger, was undoubtedly, unquestionably, a giant fin. 

He collapsed backward in disbelief. It couldn’t be. It had to be some sort of prank. But the scales glittered beautifully in the moonlight, and he couldn’t believe a costume would be this elaborate. He could see how the scales swept up along the boy’s torso, moving seamlessly down, and he didn’t know how else to describe it, other than that he was looking at a merman.

“Sorry for frightening you,” the boy spoke, his voice soft and light. “I wasn’t drowning, as you can see.”

“I …" Tezuka was speechless. He had face all sorts of things as a police officer - drug addicts, thugs, prostitutes and their pimps, and the occasional yakuza. There’d even been a few incidents with illegally kept animals, and he’d never forget the baby rhino they found in a garage. But he’d never found anything… _mythical_.

“Could you help me for a moment?” The boy smiled. “Just hold on to me.”

Tezuka did as he was told, not knowing what else to do. He raised the boy’s arms up - at least he thought it was a boy, but actually the merman looked more like a teenager - and the merman grabbed onto him in a tight hug.

“Ah… ah…” The merman began to whimper in pain, his fingers digging into Tezuka’s yukata as he started to squirm, burying his face against the yukata’s cloth. Tezuka held onto him with widening eyes, as the fin shimmered and began to change. The scales retracting into the skin, then disappear as though they’d never been there. The fin split apart into two long branches, and as the scales disappear, the end of it thickened into feet. In a matter of minutes, he was no longer looking at a merman, but a normal, though naked, human.

The teen cried softly against his clothes, but had stopped whimpering after the transformation was done. His grip on Tezuka didn’t lessen, though, and Tezuka finally had a coherent thought. 

“You must be cold,” Tezuka said monotonously, still in disbelief over what he’d just witnessed. “Let me take you in the house… I’ll get you some clothes.”

“Please,” the teen murmured, sounding like he still felt pain. At least he relaxed, but then started to shiver. “Thank you.”

Without his tail, the youth was as light as he looked. He was lanky, though, taller than five feet, so Tezuka carried him bridal style and let his head rest on Tezuka’s shoulder. 

He was glad for his collection of yukatas, simple though they were. He was able to adjust the tie for the teen’s height. He revised his previous estimate - this young man was about five foot five, and while his features were delicate, he was at least in high school - well, at least old enough to be in high school. If mermen aged the same way humans did.

“How kind,” that soft voice came again, as the youth finally spoke. “Thank you, sir.”

“Tezuka,” the policeman grunted. He felt awkward being called sir out of uniform. 

“I’m Syuusuke,” said the young man. He looked up at Tezuka with shimmering blue eyes, his light brown hair still clamped around his face, though Tezuka had given him a towel to dry it.

“Are you….” Tezuka wondered what he was supposed to ask. Are you lost? Are you hurt? How did you end up in my garden? Are you really a merman?

Chuckling, Syuusuke started to look around. “I like your house. It’s so spacious.”

Tezuka only had as much furniture as he needed, minus some pieces from his grandparents that he couldn’t bring himself to remove. His mother told him it was too bare and that he needed decorations.

“Can I help you get home?” Tezuka finally decided to ask, trying to merge his questions as best he could.

The merman turned to smile at him, but his eyes looked sad. “I can’t go home,” he said simply, as if describing the weather. “I… it’s not possible, like this.” He glanced down, indicating his legs.

“You can stay here,” Tezuka breathed, and then wondered what had prompted him to say so. Maybe the empty rooms, filled with nothing, and the bare walls, which needed decorations.

“You’re too kind,” Syuusuke smiled, his eyes twinkling happily. But Tezuka felt like they still looked a little sad.

Not knowing what else to do, Tezuka showed Syuusuke where he could stay. There was only one other room with a bed in it, where his parents stayed when they visited, and he was glad he’d recently changed the sheets. A small flower vase sat on the nightstand, but it was empty.

Syuusuke walked in slowly, and he kept glancing back at Tezuka as if expecting something. He fingered his tie, then slowly started to bring the knot undone. 

“You can wear that as pajamas,” Tezuka said, putting his hand on Syuusuke’s fingers to stop him. “It’s traditional… and comfortable.” 

The merman stared at him for several seconds, before letting go of the tie and slipping onto the bed. He lay out on top of the sheets, his body twisted in a way that accentuated his hips and shoulders, and Tezuka pictured him sunbathing on the sand with his fin. Then he realized Syuusuke didn’t know how to use a bed.

He helped him move under the sheets, and covered him up. “The sheets will keep you warm,” the policeman explained. “It’s nearly midnight, so we should sleep now, and figure out what to do in the morning.”

Syuusuke didn’t say a word, but pulled the sheets up over his chin. His blue eyes glowed in the dim hallway light, fixed on the policeman as he stepped back and closed the door.

* * *

Despite the late night, Tezuka woke up at dawn. He was now glad he’d gone grocery shopping the night before. He left a message for his boss to let him know he’d need the next two days off, and started cooking.

The smell of bacon and sizzle of onions wafted through the house, and soon his visitor appeared, shyly peaking out of the hallway. 

“Give me three more minutes,” Tezuka nodded, and cracked in the eggs. 

Now that his presence was acknowledged, Syuusuke timidly made his way into the living room, and stared down at the low table and mats. 

Tezuka took his eyes off the pan long enough to look over at him, and felt his breath catch.

The yukata was crumpled, half falling off the youth’s shoulder, exposing pale, smooth skin. The sleeves fell down past his hands, and the fabric had loosened under the tie and was dragging on the floor. The draping from being oversized made Syuusuke look even smaller and more frail. And from the confused look in those crystal blue eyes, he didn’t know what to do.

Quickly turning his eyes back to the pan, Tezuka felt the eggs were cooked well enough and set them on the plates, then carried it all over to the table. “I only have a traditional table,” Tezuka apologized, as he kneeled. “It’s proper to sit with your legs folded like this, but it’s uncomfortable if you aren’t used to it. You should sit however is comfortable for you.”

Syuusuke nodded after a moment, and settled down on the floor, copying Tezuka. At first he tried sitting seiza like the policeman, but quickly gave up and stuck his feet out to the side, exposing his thin, pale legs from under the yukata. 

An image of the night before flashed through Tezuka’s mind, of those legs when they first appeared. 

He suppressed it. Or at least tried to. But while forking up his eggs, he kept thinking about his sexual orientation, which had kept him away from relationships since high school. Keeping secrets from his family had been messy, and caused too much hurt for his boyfriend. 

Ironically, he realized that now, it was easy to keep such a secret. Here he was, housing a mysterious young man - possibly a mythical creature - and the more he thought about it, the more he realized no one would know. His parents had visited recently, and wouldn’t come for several months or longer. His house was on the edge of the city, so his colleagues didn’t visit at all. Instead, he went out with them after work to bars or restaurants, before taking the train home. 

“I like this,” Syuusuke said, interrupting his thoughts. The merman was chewing happily on a piece of bacon. 

“What do you normally eat?” Tezuka wondered why he hadn’t thought to ask sooner.

“Flesh,” Syuukuse smiled, and somehow it made Tezuka feel cold.

“. . . I’ll grill fish for dinner,” he nodded, shaking away the feeling. “Would you like to go with me to the store?” 

Those blue eyes lit up, and Tezuka felt his cheeks warm, feeling like he’d done something right.

* * *

“I’ve never been to a shop like this before.” Syuusuke was wide eyed as they rolled down the grocery store aisles. Tezuka let him pick out a fish. The merman seemed to recognize most of them, but had weird names for them, like hard flapper and bony fins. 

He took Syuusuke clothes shopping next, figuring the short teen wouldn’t want to wear his oversized yukata every day. They’d gotten plenty of stares since they’d entered the city, though Tezuka knew they were probably just wondering if there was a special event. Not that the policeman knew much about clothes. They ended up in a large uniqlo. Syuusuke drifted wide eyed through the aisles, but the first outfit he reached for was a dress.

“You don’t want to wear men’s clothes?” Tezuka asked, after rejecting the dress and the next two picks being a skirt and a woman’s yukata.

“... Pants look uncomfortable,” the merman admitted shyly, dropping his eyes dropping to the floor. Tezuka noticed Syuusuke’s knees were pressed awkwardly together, and realized the slow walking pace was not because of the yukata as he’d assumed. 

They left the store with two new yukatas, one patterned with gold fish and the other with plum blossoms. Both were for girls, but they hadn’t been able to find men’s yukatas in the store. It didn’t seem like the merman minded, anyway, and Tezuka couldn’t bring himself to force the youth into wearing pants.

They were heading home slowly, both carrying several bags, when he noticed Syuusuke hesitate for a moment in front of a store window. 

Glancing at the ice pack bag with the fish, Tezuka figured it was a cool enough day that they could take another hour out. 

“Would you like to try some ice cream?”

Mouth dropping open, Syuusuke looked at him like a begging kitten, then gave a small nod.

Tezuka ordered the deluxe parfait from the window display, and a small bowl of green tea ice cream for himself.

Eyes glowing, Syuusuke stared at the tower of layered vanilla ice cream, rice krispies, strawberries, whip cream, and chocolate powder for several minutes before poking the wafer at the top. He finally picked out the wafer with his fingers, eating it tentatively, then copied Tezuka in spooning up the ice cream and other goodies. He ate neatly, savoring each small bite, and Tezuka caught himself staring at Syuusuke’s lips, waiting for each moment when that small pink tongue licked them clean.

He blinked his desire away, and stuck his spoon into his bowl, only to find it empty. He didn’t know why he felt embarrassed, scraping up what whatever melted bits were left. Syuusuke did the same, almost cleaning the glass with his spoon.

The merman wore a small, happy smile as they walked home. He always seemed to smile, with a small upturn of his sealed lips, but this was different. This seemed comfortable and genuine. 

Tezuka did his best not to stare at Syuusuke after the merman changed into his new yukata. Small goldfish swam around wavy blue lines across a white background, creating sparks of orange color that kept catching the policeman’s eyes as he grilled the fish. Syuusuke went out to the garden while he cooked, and came back with a white lily tucked behind his ear. 

Tezuka gripped the spatula handle so hard his knuckles turned white. What he really wanted was for the warmth in his groin to stop building.

Dinner went quickly, and Tezuka was glad he bought so much as the merman ate a whole fish by himself. 

Afterward they played a game of a shogi, since Syuusuke said he knew the rules. Shock overtook the policeman when he realized he had a formidable opponent, and he stopped playing like he was teaching his cousin, and started attacking like he was playing his grandfather. He won narrowly, respect blossoming in his chest along with all his other feelings, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask the merman how he knew how to play.

He’d never been good at talking. At expressing himself. Maybe if he had been, he wouldn’t be living in this big house alone.

But he wasn’t alone now.

He tucked the merman in for the second time, those blue eyes glowing at him in the darkness as he left the room.

* * *

The next day continued much in the same way.

Sizzling bacon drew the merman to the kitchen, and Tezuka realized he’d need to buy more for tomorrow. He had work, too, to think about.

“I can go shopping by myself tomorrow,” Syuusuke said, when Tezuka mentioned he would be at work all day. “I remember how to get there.”

Nodding, Tezuka thought about giving the merman money, and remembered he’d found his grandmother’s kimono accessories in her old room. There was a box purse there that Syuusuke could use that would match his yukata, and Tezuka supposed that was fine. He doubted anyone would think the merman was a boy, anyway. 

They played another game of shogi that lasted for hours. The merman learned quickly, but Tezuka had mastered the game before he started middle school, and he wouldn’t let himself be beaten so easily. 

It’d been years since anyone had made him feel challenged.

Lunch consisted of ground beef, egg, and onions, and Tezuka’s scolding eyes seemed to stop the merman from picking out all his onions. When Syuusuke finally tried them, his eyes lit up, and he ended up eating them all.

Tezuka decided to try bell peppers next.

“Can I try cooking dinner?” Syuusuke asked. “I want to help, and…” He’d been reading one of Tezuka’s books for a while, and staring at the shogi board, and the policeman realized he must be bored.

“Okay. You cut the vegetables tonight, and tomorrow morning I’ll show you how to use the stove.”

The merman’s eyebrow twitched at the word vegetables, making Tezuka even more determined to make the meal healthy. He had a hard time believing that a being so human-like could live on meat alone. 

Tezuka then made the great mistake of showing Syuusuke how to use his laptop.

The merman had seen computers but never used one, though he said he knew how to use a tv remote. But Tezuka didn’t have a tv - even the laptop and wifi connection had been a leap for the bespectacled brunette, who preferred traditional ways of passing the time and wasn’t in tune with technology. But the convenience for getting for news, purchasing items, and even checking the weather had been too great, and he’d decided a laptop was better than a smartphone, that he’d be stuck carrying around. 

Within an hour the merman had picked up the basics of typing, and begun clicking around and reading articles off google and wikipedia. Tezuka had a sinking feeling that by the end of the week, the youth would be faster than him at using the laptop. 

Worried that the young brunette would become addicted to web games like some of his peers, he tried to think of other things for the merman to focus on.

“Have you ever played… do you know what tennis is?” Tezuka glanced toward the closet, where his tennis rackets collected dust. A sudden ache in his hand made him realized how much he missed playing the game, which he’d played less and less since starting his job. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d played a match.

“I know about tennis,” Syuusuke turned to him with a smile. “I know baseball better. But I… I mean, I think the game I play with my sisters is like... um… soccer?”

“You have an underwater ball?” Tezuka asked in bewilderment. He truly didn’t understand anything about the merman, why the lithe brunette seemed to know some human things but not others. 

“People lose balls all the time,” Syuusuke shrugged. “We play with them till they break. I like games with balls. I would like to play your tennis. I… I don’t know if I can run very fast, though.” He glanced down at his legs.

“You just need practice,” Tezuka nodded, realizing this would be the perfect way to help Syuusuke adjust to having legs. The small court meant if he fell or got tired, he would be able to sit down and rest, and he would learn fine movements like going sideways and backwards. 

The dust was thicker than he expected, turning his hand black when he picked up the racket case. But inside the rackets were clean, and he found a few cans of unused balls, too. His hobby led him to overstock at its peak, and he felt a twinge of painfully nostalgia that he quickly shoved away. 

The tennis court he’d built in the back, that he’d only played on once, was in better shape than he thought. The gardener must have kept it clean. They worked together to put up the net, the stiffened plastic cracking a bit as they unfolded it, but it stayed together as they pulled it to the right height, minus a few holes.

Syuusuke did not pick up tennis as he had shogi. His hand eye coordination was excellent, and as long as Tezuka sent the ball right to him in a slow arc, Syuusuke could return it just fine. He even got good at hitting the sweet spot.

But moving around the court was exactly as the merman predicted. He moved trepidly, and tripped on the yukata once he finally got into it enough to try jerking forward. But the youth laughed and brushed himself off, clearly having fun. Tezuka’s own lips, which were well known for being frozen into a stoic frown, twitched upward. He vowed to buy a pleated skirt on his way home from work.

It was the first time he’d heard Syuusuke laugh, and it sounded like bells.

Tezuka took a cold shower that night.

He thought he’d drag anxiously through work, but the day ended up flying by. Two hot headed teens got into a fight at a restaurant by the precinct, and Tezuka ended it by putting one down with a twist to the arm, and the other with a german suplux. Through questioning he learned that the two idiots, Momoshiro and Kaidoh, were on their high school’s tennis team, and actually won many games as a doubles pair. They were actually quite close, but after observing them for a few hours locked up together, he almost had to break it up again when they started bickering. He let them go before the end of his shift, since they managed to sit quietly after that, but sighed as he heard them start arguing the moment they left the precinct door.

He got home to find Syuusuke smoking fish.

“They have instructions on the internet,” Syuusuke beamed at him, spooning the fish and black sauce onto the policeman’s plate like a perfect housewife. “Do you know what you tube is? They have short tv shows on it and some of them teach you things.”

There was even a side of onions and mushrooms, making Tezuka raise an eyebrow. Syuusuke scooped almost all of the grilled vegetables onto Tezuka’s plate, but did keep a little for himself.

Once they were done, Tezuka brought over the yellow Loft bag and handed it to Syuusuke. “I bought you some things,” Tezuka said hesitantly, as Syuusuke rummaged through the bag with bright eyes.

Laughing softly, Syuusuke stood up after seeing what was inside. “I’m going to go try it on,” he beamed, and went to his room to change.

Heart racing, Tezuka prayed his yukata hid his tightening manhood when Syuusuke emerged from the hall, twirling in the short white nike skirt. The tank top stretched tight across his chest and stomach, accentuating his lean shape and showing off his narrow shoulders. 

But the part that almost gave Tezuka a nose bleed was the view of pale, upper thighs, and the realization that normally, a girl would wear tight short shorts underneath. And Syuusuke didn’t even wear underwear.

He drank ice water instead of hot tea, and was in the shower for thirty minutes. 

The next few days flew by like a whirl. His long shifts that often ended in overtime only left him with enough time to eat breakfast and dinner with Syuusuke. Starting on the fourth day since the merman had appeared, Syuusuke would greet him at the door, wearing one of his grandmother’s aprons, and welcome him home. Tezuka wondered if the youth was copying videos he’d seen online. At least Syuusuke was keeping himself busy, and Tezuka was pleased to find a book of his open on the table. 

Finally his day off came. Tezuka couldn’t remember ever feeling eager for his off days. Before they were just days to run errands, and occasionally visit his parents. 

Except for the few times a year he saw his cousin and his cousin’s grandfather, he didn’t play shogi. He hadn’t played tennis for years. His last bonzai had died in college, just after his grandfather’s death, and he didn’t have the will to replace it. He had no hobbies, he realized, and he rarely saw his friends from school, nor made new ones at the precinct. 

Before he sat down for breakfast, he noticed Syuusuke had already made the first move on the shogi board. Lips twitching into a smile, he thought hard about what his return move would be. 

They ate a light lunch, just a small bowl of sashimi on rice.

“You shouldn’t eat too much before you exercise,” Syuusuke recited, going over the things about health he’d read online. “I’ve been walking every day, and yesterday I jogged. I stayed inside the property,” he added, seeming to notice Tezuka’s concern.

The policeman thought of that short skirt with nothing underneath. 

At least Syuusuke had enough sense to wear the girl yukata when he went shopping. Or perhaps he associated the nike outfit with exercise. 

Or maybe Tezuka was overthinking it, and Syuusuke understood perfectly well what was appropriate or not. Just like how the merman played a perfect game of shogi.

Thanks to work, Tezuka was in excellent shape, but it’d been a long time since he played a serious game of tennis. But after so many swings, his arms remembered. And after so many serves, his fingers recalled those special ways to twist the ball.

He thought it might be too much for Syuusuke, who was still learning how to rally, by he couldn’t stop himself. He ached to use the special skills he’d developed as a teenager, to expose that renowned talent to the sunlight, that he’d buried the night he broke up with Echizen Ryouma. The same talent that had attracted Ryouma in the first place. 

He longed to play at his best again, to play real tennis, and Syuusuke let him live again, returning many balls though he didn’t score any points. The lithe brunette was laughing and enjoying the game, whereas Ryouma would have turned it into a competition, pouting if he lost and refusing to have sex for days. Syuusuke sparkled and grew, so much better now that he was used to his feet, and Tezuka could see how strong those leg muscles were, perhaps since they had been born from a tail of solid muscle. Syuusuke was strong, and skilled, and Tezuka couldn’t believe it, when Syuusuke tossed up the ball with a twist, similar to Tezuka’s special serve but with a variation, and scored a service ace.

Tezuka didn’t know how it happened. Suddenly he was on the other side of the court, lifting Syuusuke up in his arms and swinging him round in a circle. The merman seemed equally high on scoring his first ever point, laughing so hard his eyes crinkled closed, and he was so incredibly beautiful in that moment that Tezuka brought him down into a hug and kissed him.

At first, he thought Syuusuke kissed back. Their tongues clashed together, their lips molded to one another's, and their bodies pressed together like two corresponding shapes, like god himself had made them to be this close. 

He pulled away for air, and saw something totally different. 

Syuusuke’s eyes were wide and trembling along with his lips, and his body was frozen stiff. His skin was cold and as pale as the day Tezuka’d pulled him from the pond. His fingers curled, his arms bent up defensively, and his knees started to shake, pressing together awkwardly.

He was terrified.

Tezuka pushed him away. He felt sick. He didn’t know what he was thinking, what had come over him. He beat himself inside, wondering how he could compare Syuusuke to his ex-boyfriend, who may have been a teen at the time they dated, but Tezuka had been a teenager too back then. This… this being, that had come to him, that had appeared out of nowhere and had nowhere to go, that had trusted him for help… 

Syuusuke stayed frozen in the same spot, not moving at all. Turning away, Tezuka buried his face in his hands. A hundred thoughts flew through his mind as he paced. He couldn’t do this, he finally concluded. He just couldn’t.

When he turned around, Syuusuke was gone.

Of course the kid had run. That was the right thing to do. He should be glad Syuusuke had a sense of danger, the sense to run away if anyone tried to force himself on him.

But he thought of that short skirt with nothing under it, and prayed that Syuusuke had gone back to the house to change. Even then, where would the merman go? He couldn’t bare the thought of the small, beautiful teenager wandering the streets, homeless and alone. Tezuka had dealt with many such runaways at the precinct, and none of their stories were good.

He paced towards the garden, collecting his thoughts. He wouldn’t let Syuusuke go without help, he decided. He would keep the merman safe - but safe without him. He would make it work.

He heard splashing from the pond.

Of course. The merman had gone home. He’d told Tezuka he couldn’t go back, but that must have been a lie. A magical portal had brought him here, and the same portal could surely take him back.

The splashing got louder, and more turbulent. It didn’t stop. Tezuka’s feet moved on their own, taking him across the garden. 

Syuusuke was kneeling at the pond, bent over, his hands pounding into the water and scattering the koi fish. There was no magic portal, no darkness, and his hands hit the bottom easily. Water dripping off his arms and hair, his shirt was soaked, and the worst part, Tezuka realized, was he was sobbing.

As his frantic pounding subsided, his distressed sobs echoed in the air, tears falling into the water and rippling outward. The koi, with their limited space, began to venture back towards the middle, swimming around Syuusuke’s hands, and when one slid against the merman’s skin, he jerked back his arms as if shocked. 

Tezuka couldn’t stop himself, seeing the lithe brunette hug himself and tremble, and bent down next to him. He wrapped his arms around the youth once more, hoping his clothes would soak up some of the water, and feeling more moisture coming from the brunette’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice flat and emotionless, even though he felt more at that moment than he had in his entire life. “This is the last time I’ll ever touch you. I just don’t want you to be cold.”

“No, no, it’s not,” Syuusuke choked out between sobs, and Tezuka wondered if this was too much, but the merman’s hands were clenched onto his shirt, pulling him closer instead of pushing him away. “It’s not that-”

“I’m going to take you to my parents,” Tezuka stated, as though he were reading a police report. Monotonous, without feeling. “They’ll take care of you while I make other arrangements. And I’ll search, I’ll do whatever it takes, to find a way for you to go home.”

There must have been a way. In a book, on the internet, buried within the legends. Tezuka was not so arrogant as to think that only he had ever met a mermaid. There must have been countless others throughout history, and one of them had to have left the answers he would need.

“I don’t want to go to your parents,” Syuusuke sobbed, his voice muffled as he buried his head against Tezuka’s chest. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to stay here. With you. But you don’t know, you don’t know.”

“Syuusuke…” Despite the fact he hadn’t cried since the day he was born, Tezuka felt moisture cover his eyes. He couldn’t hope, couldn’t allow himself to feel hope.

“You don’t know what I am.”

The merman’s voice grew weak as he spoke, his last words nearly inaudible before he fell limp in Tezuka’s arms. The policeman took a moment to realize the teen had fainted, exhausted from their match followed by the emotional wreck that was entirely his fault.

He would call his parents in the morning, he decided, as he scooped that light body up in his arms. This was just like that first night he’d met Syuusuke, him carrying the youth bridal style, nearly seven days prior. Had it really only been seven days?

“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” Tezuka murmured, even though the merman was unconscious. “I shouldn’t have thought I could keep you… like… like a pet.”

He shouldn’t have compared Syuusuke to his ex-boyfriend. He shouldn’t have kept the youth isolated, here in this house alone with him, when he kept having lecherous thoughts. He shouldn’t have thought he could save the merman, as if the merman needed saving. As though he could be some sort of hero.

He tucked the lithe brunette in for the last time. No glowing sapphire eyes followed him today. Syuusuke’s breathing was shallow, and Tezuka tucked light brown bangs back worriedly. He would have to ask his parents to take Syuusuke to a doctor, and pray that something strange from the mermaid form didn’t show up in medial tests. The teen was probably just stressed, but that didn’t mean he’d never need to be looked at. 

No, no, no. Tezuka shook his head. He was over thinking things. Trying to justify why he should hold onto Syuusuke, keep taking care of him.

He had to let go.

His feet were too heavy, and he couldn’t make it back to his room. So instead he slid against Syuusuke’s door after closing it, and darkness closed in all around as he soon fell asleep.

* * *

Tall trees patterned the entire ground with shadows of leaves and streaks of sunlight.

Summer heat drew out the buzz of cicadas to mix with the call of birds, but other than the soft breeze that lifted a few leaves as it passed, this part of the forest was still. But he heard the sound of running water, and then without moving, he was at the bank of a tumbling stream.

_I’m dreaming,_ Tezuka realized, as he was suddenly at the top of the stream, where a lagoon swirled from the force of a waterfall, whose mists enveloped the water’s surface. 

It was certainly a dream, but Tezuka had never been in a dream that felt so real.

And then he saw him, a young man - no, Syuusuke, walking with slow steps towards the water. His arms hung limply at his sides, his chin held up but his eyes were blank, his mouth slightly open, and traces of tears dirtied his cheeks.

He did not look anything like the Syuusuke that Tezuka knew, but the policeman still knew who it was. This Syuusuke wore pants, though baggy and old fashioned, with a tie string, and an equally baggy shirt, both plain off white. His skin was unevenly tanned, his hair disheveled and lips chapped, and most noticeably - his eyes were light brown, the same color as his hair.

He looked so _human_.

Syuusuke walked as though the entire forest was bearing down on him. He stepped into the water, the bottom of his pants floating upward, but he didn’t take them off. He waded in deeply, fully clothed, tilting up his chin until only his face surfaced. Then his eyes closed, and his expression relaxed into that of a man who was finally at peace.

Then the mist covered him, and he disappeared.

Except he didn’t. Tezuka was there, under the water, watching him as he floated down. Down and down Syuusuke drifted, slowly through the water, endless darkness all around. But there was light, too, somehow in the crystal clear water, and then a sound, and then many sounds, of things swimming past and around him. 

Syuusuke opened his eyes, but there was no sign of the surface above, or the ground below, or the rocks or anything around him, only water, glowing and alive and around him, and somehow, he wasn’t choking. He wasn’t drowning. He could breath.

And then they appeared, swimming around him, smiling and reaching out their hands. Beautiful woman with long flowing hair, and a few that had the chests of men but were equally beautiful, and all of them moved with long, shimmering tails. The merpeople of legend, singing a silent song in the water, swirling around him, more and more of them, and each one of them had glowing, water blue eyes. 

Syuusuke closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were glowing blue too. The merpeople pulled at his clothes from all direction, and there was no sound in the water as the cloth ripped away, and when it was gone, he was free, his tail was free, and he joined them, swimming in endless circles. 

Tezuka woke with a startled gasp, shocked by his dream. For a moment, he’d felt like he _was_ Syuusuke, at the last moment he’d been human, but for the rest of it, he’d been no more than a helpless observer. 

The image of Syuusuke, desolate and walking lifelessly into the water, burned into his memory.

He pushed himself up, wondering how he’d fallen asleep on the floor. Then he remembered he’d fallen asleep against Syuusuke’s doorway, and now said door was open. 

The bed was empty.

Tezuka wondered how on earth he could have slept through the door being open, and Syuusuke stepping over him. He never slept deeply, always vigilant as his grandfather had taught him, in preparation for his future in the police force. 

He raced down the hall and through the dining, not caring to put on his shoes as he slid open the porch screen with a violent slam. He didn’t know why it felt so urgent, why his heart pounded so hard.

But those empty brown eyes…

“Syuusuke!” He called, the fear in his own voice surprising him. He took a deep, steadying breath, focusing on the sounds around him. The hum of crickets. A far off hoot. And a faint splash.

_The pond!_

It was the natural place to go. But the pond was only a few feet deep.

But the darkness he’d pulled Syuusuke from went down forever.

He crashed through the shrubs, barely able to see their shapes, unable to find the path but too rushed to go back to a flashlight. A branch snagged at his yukata, tearing at the fabric, but he ignored it. A sharp pain flew up threw his foot as he smashed it on a rock, but he kicked it off and went on. 

He parted the last bush, and there was the pond, dark and without a koi fish in sight. Bubbles came from its center.

He felt the wind knock out of him. Just like that, Syuusuke was gone, and he -

“... uooh…” 

He heard a moan, and when his eyes shot to his source, there was Syuusuke lying on the path several feet from the pond, hunched on his side and groaning. 

“Syuusuke!” Tezuka cried, and in an instant had scooped the brunette up in his arms. But Syuusuke felt so heavy, he couldn’t hold him all, and he realized it was because of the thick, scale covered tail that half the youth’s body had transformed into. 

“... Tezu...ka…” Syuusuke moaned weakly, his eyes opening with great effort, blue pupils glowing brightly in the darkness. His breathing was faint, as was the pulse Tezuka felt for in his wrist. 

A splash from the pond made Tezuka’s head turn.

In the center of the pond, a beautiful face stared up at him with glowing cerulean eyes. Her long, auburn hair fanned out in the water, emphasizing her pale, exposed shoulders held just above the water line. 

“Who are you?!” Tezuka pulled Syuusuke closer.

“I’m his sister,” the mermaid cooed, her eyelids drooping as she looked up at him with that piercing blue gaze.

“Can you help him?!” He demanded, cradling Syuusuke’s cheek, heart clenching as he felt how cold it was.

“No. I came to say goodbye,” she replied calmly. At least she wasn’t smiling.

Heart racing, Tezuka tried to think, _think_ , as he’d been trained to do. He realized he’d asked the wrong question.

“ _What_ are you?”

“She’s a siren. As am I,” Syuusuke whispered, blinking his eyes slowly, as if trying not to fall asleep. “This was all a trap from the beginning.”

“We aren’t creatures of the sea,” said the mermaid, her hair swirling around her. “We are avengers. Dark spirits born from human sins.”

“You were supposed to force yourself on me,” Syuusuke whimpered. “To rape me, as so many others have. And after you were done, I would take payment in the form of your life.” He placed his hand over Tezuka’s, his grip weak. “I was going to eat you.”

“. . . I don’t understand,” Tezuka spoke hoarsely, looking between the merman and his sister in the pond.

“You wanted someone young, so I appeared young. You wanted a male, so I came instead of my sister.” A pitying smile grew on Syuusuke’s lips. “You wanted someone Japanese, someone who honored your traditions. You wanted someone quiet. Someone shy and considerate. But you didn’t want someone weak. You wanted someone smart, who would challenge you. But at the same time, you wanted someone you could help, someone you could save.

“I was all of those things. You were supposed to want me. You were supposed to make love to me, or rape me, it didn’t matter, you just had to take me and try to make me yours.

“And then you would be mine. You would become my food. My life force. Give me enough magic and energy to move on to my next victim.

“But you didn’t. You were kind. A true gentleman. You respected me. I tried everything. I wasn’t… I’m only supposed to appear before those that _deserve_ to die. Why… why was I sent here… why did the water lead me here…”

Tezuka had wanted someone like Ryouma, but without the demands. Without the attachments. Someone who needed him. Someone who relied on him. Someone without big dreams to take him away.

“I don’t care,” Tezuka breathed, and he really didn’t. “Please,” he looked at the mermaid, “Tell me how to save him.”

“He can’t return to being a siren without taking your life,” she said, eyes glowing brightly.

“Then eat me,” Tezuka shook the merman, whose eyes had fallen closed. “Syuusuke, eat me. I don’t have anyone else in my life. No one will miss me. But I’ll miss you if you die. So please…”

But Syuusuke just whimpered, and rubbed his head against Tezuka’s chest.

“If I… if I make love to you, will you eat me then?” Tezuka glanced down at the tail. No, he refused to believe it was too late. He would make the magic work, no matter how dark it was.

He brushed those bangs off sweat soaked skin, gently cupping the back of Syuusuke’s head. And he drew their lips together.

This time, he was sure that Syuusuke kissed him back.

They broke apart for air, gasping loudly as though they’d just emerged from water. Tezuka had never felt so breathless, and Syuusuke breathed in deeply with strong gasps -

And then he screamed.

Tezuka grabbed him hard, and a blinding blue light burst out in the night, forcing the policeman to squeeze shut his eyes. Syuusuke screamed and thrashed in his arms, and Tezuka held onto him with everything he had, and then… then it stopped.

Syuusuke fell limp, but his harsh, panting breaths told Tezuka he was still alive, much to the policeman’s relief. 

Cracking open his eyes, Tezuka blinked rapidly to make the flashes behind his eyelids go away, but the bright light was gone.

As was Syuusuke’s tail. 

Now, two normal legs and two normal feet made up the lower half of Syuusuke’s body, which was fully exposed below the torn up yukata. While still pale, there was something more human about Syuusuke’s skin, the uneven tan that ran up his arms and small freckles, the moles on the side of his neck, the wrinkles in his brow that furled together in painful exhaustion. And when those eyelids finally opened, Tezuka found light brown eyes blinking softly up at his.

“Hello,” Syuusuke whispered, and Tezuka couldn’t hold back. He lifted Syuusuke up in his arms, swirling him in a circle before holding him tight, unable to let go. 

“I don’t understand,” Syuusuke said, as Tezuka finally let him down to stand on his own two feet. The lithe brunette steadied himself with a hand on Tezuka’s shoulder, as he turned to look at the mermaid in the pond.

“Just as humans have sins, they have virtues,” she smiled softly. “Lust brought you to the depths of the sirens, but love returned you to the surface.”

Eyes sparkling with moisture, Syuusuke turned to meet Tezuka’s eyes, and they stared at each other in a moment of wonder.

When they looked back at the pond, the mermaid was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> One of my projects from NaNoWriMo 2014, and my gift to Neumegami! 
> 
> Since I won't be writing about domestic life for Home, I bring you domestic Tezuka and Fuji here. ;) Hehe.
> 
> Questions welcome. :)


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